Project 365, days 301-308

Halloween is the the theme this week. Trick-or-treating three out of seven days, in downtown Dexter on Friday, at the Ann Arbor farmers market on Saturday, and on Halloween in the neighborhood, so three days in the costume gave us three great photo ops. On Monday he traded his candy in for cash and we went shopping for a new toy (which he picked out ahead of time by researching it online). Tuesday we voted, Wednesday is him working in his piano workbook, and Thursday we lit the pumpkins up one last time before Friday's compost pickup.

Vote? Check

I voted today, but I can't say I'm happy about it. It's not the actual voting process that makes me so unhappy (in our small town life there is no waiting and the volunteers are exceedingly friendly) nor is this a commentary on the options available (that would be a totally different and probably much longer post). No, what's making me incredibly unhappy this election season is my phone, and to a lesser extent my front door, and even at times my email. Over the past week we have received anywhere from five to eight political phone calls per day, and in the three weeks leading up to that point we were receiving at least four per day. I could swear that's more phone calls than we generally receive over an entire year. And as if the constant interruptions weren't enough more often than not I'd find myself answering the phone, hands dirty with dinner or wet from laundry, only to be greeted by a robocaller. I can't give a robocaller a piece of my mind (or I guess I can, and in fact did, but it really isn't all that fulfilling).

I joined a do not call list for a reason, and though I realize that these people must be exempt from those parameters, I am livid. Irate. And then I thought it was all over—I'd voted, right? No, they came to the door at five and called three more times between then and the closing of the polls at eight. Now, thankfully, the polls are closed and my phone is quiet. Until it rang at 8:30 and it was CDC taking a poll on the flu vaccine. At least I was nice to that guy.

Calvin went with me to vote today, and we talked about the process throughout. I even held him up so that he could watch me "color in the circles" for "the people I liked" (which, when put that way, makes it sound like a high school prom court vote). When we got home he wrote the above entry in his journal about the experience. Obviously I helped him with spelling, but the sentence structure is completely his own composition, and I'm not sorry he left out the part about coloring in circles.

Halloween only comes three times a year

(find instructions here)

We spent an inordinate amount of time creating Calvin's costume this year, and he'd been so excited about being a train that I decided to make this once annual event last a bit longer. Dexter had their annual downtown costume parade and trick-or-treat on Friday so we traipsed through town collecting candy from our favorite local businesses and workers.

On Saturday Kerrytown had trick-or-treating at the Farmers market, along with free donuts and cider, so Calvin got a second chance to done his beloved train costume. My favorite part of the event was hearing him describe the costume to all the questioning onlookers (of which there were many). The second best part of the event was the occasional booth that was handing out real goodies—apples, dried corn, or gourds instead of candy.

And of course, then there was Halloween. Jon's parents and sister came to enjoy the evening with us, his mother sporting pumpkin orange and Ann the good witch in white, and we all took turns carting the railroad crossing signs on our forays into the neighborhood. The longer that we've been in this house the more we get to know our neighbors, and that makes Halloween exponentially more fun—we know them, they know Calvin, it's a good time.

 With all that Halloween one might be concerned about a major sugar high. What exactly will this do to our healthy diets? Like last year we offered Calvin the opportunity to trade in any of the candy he collected for a quarter per piece—money that he could use to buy any item he chose. On Thursday, after his trip through Dexter, he decided to eat one piece of candy after lunch and traded the rest in for money. I wondered if after that first taste the decision might be a tougher one, but actually the one piece of Kit Kat he had was apparently enough—he traded in all the rest of the candy which we handed back out to our neighbors. At a price of $25 (the total he accrued) it was probably the most expensive Halloween candy we've ever bought, but I figure we paid a premium to keep the household sugar intake down, and to give Calvin a chance to make good choices with lasting outcomes.

Project 365, days 295-301

295. A family birthday picture op, 296. A morning perusing used book stores and the farmers market, 297. reading good books with friends, 298. Following a caterpillar into the garden, 299. Some in the garden, 300. Pizzas a pumpkins, 301. Making the train costume happen.

Costume sneak peek

It's probably not a long shot to guess what he's going to be (for some reasons more than others)...

Most photography in this post is by Calvin.